BAY AREA DATELINES

Compiled from Examiner staff and wire reports

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, January 2, 1997

AH: 7-year-old boy shot in gun deal East Palo Alto A 7-year-old boy who was accidentally shot in the leg while his caretaker toyed with a semi-automatic Mac 11 has been taken into protective custody, according to police.

The incident began Wednesday afternoon. As Faustino Cortez, 20, and his 14- and 15-year-old cousins, all of East Palo Alto, were standing outside a Ralmar Avenue home, a neighbor offered to sell Cortez a Mac 11 semiautomatic pistol with a 50-round clip, Cortez told police.

After removing the clip, the two walked to the back of the house and put the gun in a rear bedroom, where the 7-year-old and another child were watching television.

As Cortez and the other man were outside discussing the gun, the 15-year-old entered the house and picked up the gun only to have the 14-year-old snatch it away, wave it about, and accidentally pull the trigger, police said.

The gun fired, hitting the 7-year-old in the leg. The men rushed in and saw the boy was shot. The gun seller grabbed the gun and fled, police said. Cortez said he didn't know the man's name, although he had seen him in the neighborhood.

The child is listed in good condition at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. His mother was apparently at work at the time of the shooting. She leaves her son with the 14-year-old.

But San Mateo County Children's Protective Services took the boy into protective custody, as the mother could not be found, police said.

The gun may come under the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Act of 1989 and thus would be illegal to possess or sell.

The case is still under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Ken Jones at (415) 853-3164 or Detective Juan Lopez at (415) 853-3178.

Pedestrian dies;

Orita Doers of Santa Rosa died Wednesday morning at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital of chest and head injuries after she was struck by a car driven by James Webb, 43. Doers was crossing Sebastopol Road near Brittain on foot at about 5 p.m. Tuesday when she was hit.

Webb was originally arrested on a felony drunken driving charge and on an outstanding public intoxication warrant. He now faces a charge of manslaughter.

Police ask anyone who witnessed the accident to call (707) 543-3600.

New Year's gunshots

result in arrest El Sobrante A Contra Costa County sheriff's spokesman said good police work led to the arrest of a 30-year-old man who allegedly fired his shotgun from his backyard New Year's Day.

Sgt. William French said officers watched minutes after the New Year began as Dino Pattereau allegedly came to the back door of his Appian Way home in El Sobrante and fired four rounds from a shotgun before going back inside.

Officers arrested Pattereau on felony negligent shooting charges and took him to the county jail in Martinez.

French said it was the first time he had heard of such an arrest in what is for some a New Year's tradition.&lt;